Chicago, IL commercial litigation attorney Peter S. Lubin talks about a memorable covenant not to compete case. He represented both employees and employers in covenant not to compete cases. One such case involved one of the highest-level executives at Motorola who left the company to work for a competitor after Motorola lost one of their biggest customers. The chairman of the board gave him a send-off, saying, “It’s fine, go to work for any competitor you want. We’ve lost this business; we can’t get it back.” His immediate superior also told him to take a new job.
However, as soon as he took the new job, Motorola decided to sue him and made it public by putting the lawsuit in the newspapers. They hoped to prevent other employees from leaving as well. The strategy revolved around deposing the CEO of Motorola, who had previously told the executive he was free to leave.
Once the judge ordered the CEO to be deposed, Motorola settled the case on terms that had originally been offered before the case even started. The client was very happy and relieved to move on to his new employer without facing substantial and expensive litigation.